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Am I doing it wrong? First transcribing in original language, then translate over it?

I've put alot of effort into translating the PBS Malcolm X Documentary: "Make it plain".

After being hours into it I start to think that I am doing it wrong:

I uploaded the video with the intention of making the german subtitles.

So I "added" german subtitles and it says on step one to transscribe what's being said, which I'm currently doing (in a first rough draft).

I was under the assumption that after this I'd replace the english text with the german one and that that's just how it's done.

But now I think it would have been better to have "added" english subtitles and loaded those into my "german template" and overwrite the lines in german.

How do you guys do it? What's the best way? I'm really into this, but I don't want to look like a fool.

Thanks for your time, guys and thanks for this great project!

Hi Gerrich

The usual way would have been to first complete the English subs as English, then go back to the main page - http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/g2g5C3eYWXXr/info/malcolm-x-make-it-plain-full-pbs-documentary/ - and start the Geman set by using " Start a new translation!" link under the video: this would give you a page with a box for translating into German under each English sub.
But - from the viewpoint of another user like you - your way is absolutely OK and has the advantage to free the German subs from the (future) sync'ing of the original subs, which can cause severe glitches in the translated subs if e.g. the number of subs is changed in the original.
What must be avoided is translating the original subs into another language within the set of the original subs.
Question for Jules or other people working for Amara here: would it be safe to download Gerrich's presently in English "German" unsync'd subs and upload them to complete the "English" subs?
So I might actually have saved myself from future trouble. Good to hear!

BTW, I'm not yet finished with the transscription and will work it over with an official transscription (though not free of mistakes) I found online, because depending on who is speaking I can't make out what is being said.
If anyone would like to work on this themselves here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/malcolmx/filmmore/pt.html

So I will continue to transscribe and then translate within the "german" subtitles.

Thank you, Claude, for your kind help!
Hi Gerrich, 

Claude is correct that the standard procedure is to transcribe the video and then make translations from there.  If you are good with transcribing directly into a language different from the one on the video, then you can do that as long as you declared the language for those subtitles.  So you could have a video in English with one set of subtitles, in German, made directly from the video. 

Once you finish the transcription, then you can add as a different subtitle any additional languages, which would originally use the same timing as the transcript, but once you finish translating all the lines, you'd be able to "convert to timed subtitles" and then modify the timing for the translated subtitles. 

By overwriting subtitles, you are doing twice as much work, and only getting one set of results.

So in a nutshell, if your final goal is to have German subtitles: 

1. Upload video (original language, English) 
 A. Start German subtitles, transcribe directly into German or
B. Start English subtitles, transcribe all that's been said and sync.
 1. create new subtitle in German, you will translate from existing English transcription with same syncing.
2. you can decide to split timing after finishing translation, then modify the time codes for the German Subtitle. 

You can read guides about the process here: http://pculture.freshdesk.com/solution/categories/13504/folders/23204 
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